Life is simple, Swim, Bike, Run!

So, I got up really early yesterday to ride out to watch the start of the Rogue Womens Tri at the Texas Ski Ranch. I biked there once before so I knew the way and the distance, 42-miles out, 43.5 back. With the strength I must have gained from S2S I was going to blast out there in little over 2-hours.

Sadly by the time I got there the early the first wave were already heading out on the run :-(

What went wrong? I honestly have no idea. Anyone that has cycled the Old San Antonio Road, Stagecoach and Post Roads from Austin from San Marcos will tell you the surfaces are not good, and a couple of stretches are really uneven but thats never been a problem, I've cycled out there 6x on my white Cannondale road bike.

Yesterday I decided that too be as quick as I could I'd take "big red" my race bike, also because the road bike is still in the box from S2S. I felt good heading out of Austin in the dark at 5.45, I did feel a little stretched and the fast forward position seemed a little unnatural, I have not ridden big red since April. Once I got on to the first uneven section it was brutal though. big red has the Zipp 606 wheelset, 808 back and 404 front in the Clydesdale set-up. What this means is they are as rigid as heck, every vibration, every bump comes right through the saddle and handlebars. It was painful.

Then there was the wind, it didn't seem much at first but it was there blowing into me all the way into San Marcos until I got on the I35 frontage road I'd say I didn't hit anything like a decent speed. Then there were the hills. You'd think it was flat between my house and San Marcos, yeah there are a few ups and a few downs but it seems flat. However, because I felt sooo uncomfortable in full TT position I noticed how often I had to sit-up. Then I started looking at the Garmin and noticed that although very gradual its the best part of a 750ft climb between my house in South Austin and Mountain City.

The tri looked a bit shambolic, plenty of runners cutting corners in the bog run across on the way back inside the ski ranch, two actually slipped, and a few went the wrong way despite the marshals, they tried to go back into the parking lot to the transition instead of down the finish shute. I saw and spoke briefly with anricat who seemed to have had a good race and after refilling my water bottles set-off of the road home.

The first and last parts of the ride went well and I was into the 20-22mph zone where I'd expect to be, but the whole middle section was the same, painful. I can honestly say that was the worst ride of my life. I'll have to see how big red works out at this weekends Couples triathlon when I'm half of the LJ Friends team with anetmarie . Maybe I need to make some changes to the set-up?

As a measure of the pain, the little finger on my right hand is still numb and tingling this morning, thats never ever happened in 9-years of cycling.

owww! that's no fun!

I remember seeing you after The Rookie before you set off back home that day. I've only ridden out that way once -when we did the AT training ride in Feb. I have done the Wurst Ride (this is a pun on your subject) three times, the first one was average, the second one was pure hell because we had a headwind for 62 miles, last year was heaven, we had a tailwind for 62 miles. So you have a wound from the weed trimmer and a numb right pinky. Hope you get healed up for this weekend! Take care of yourself!

Re: owww! that's no fun!

Yep, looks like I'll be fine. Am going to give the swim a miss until Thursday morning to give the leg enough to to heal, and I don't think at this stage an extra swim will make much more difference. The finger is still tingling but will be fine.

I'll bring big red with me Sunday and see how it goes... last time I raced there in the Catcus tri I used the same bike, same set-up and did great! Have you seen any course maps or details ?

Re: owww! that's no fun!

Hadn't really thought about it, since I'm pretty busy in my new job. Just now looked -- it looks exactly the same as the Danskin course, which is probably the same as Cactus (the Sprint version). At least we get to park in the park as opposed to the Expo Center! No grueling T3!